Night shift definition

ASK THE EXPERTS SAFETY, LAW AND WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE FORUM (INTE
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I to would like to see a link to the regulations that say individual drivers can insist on sticking to the working time regulations 10 hour night limit when there’s a workforce agreement in place.

It may be that some companies allow individual drivers to unoficially opt out of the workforce agreement, I imagine it could even be part of a collective agreement with some trade unions where there’s a collective agreement in place, but I’m not aware of any law that says an individual can insist on sticking to the working time regulations limits where there’s a workforce agreement in place.

RT(WT)R 2005 - Workforce Agreements

  1. An agreement is a workforce agreement for the purposes of these Regulations if the following conditions are satisfied–

~snip~

(c)it applies either—

(i)to all of the relevant members of the workforce, or

(ii)to all of the relevant members of the workforce who belong to a particular group;

~snip~

  1. For the purposes of this Schedule—

“a particular group” is a group of the relevant members of a workforce who undertake a particular function, work at a particular workplace or belong to a particular department or unit within their employer’s business;

“relevant members of the workforce” are all of the workers employed by a particular employer, excluding any worker whose terms and conditions of employment are provided for, wholly or in part, in a collective agreement;

edit: You posted while I was typing :slight_smile:

Grumpy Dad:
The relevant legislation you already have as in the form of the opt out which the majority of drivers have agreed to.
There is no requirement by law that a driver has to opt out, hence being given the option. A company whose employees opt out in a majority are entitled to continue without obstruction from the WTD regulations, a driver who does not wish to opt out cannot be forced to work outside the regulations.

See the quote above, no mention of individuals being able to opt out of workforce agreements, in fact it clearly says that a workforce agreement has to apply to all relevant members of a workforce or group.